120 new deaths in state reported
Florida, one of the nation’s coronavirus hot spots, reported another 8,935 cases Thursday for a total of 232,718, and 120 new fatalities — the most yet — to push the death toll past 4,000, to 4,009. The latest positivity rate, at 18.39%, and new hospitalizations are both also the highest on record.
Central Florida now has 38,022 cases, up 1,494 from a day earlier. There are 401 new cases in Orange for a total of 15,595; 311 in Polk for 6,206; 154 in Seminole for 3,806; 164 in Osceola for 3,466; 164 in Volusia for 3,234; 173 in Brevard for 2,985; 94 in Lake for 2,181; and 33 in Sumter for 549.
Central Florida had 25 of the deaths reported Thursday, bringing the regional toll to 385.
The new fatalities include six each in Orange and Brevard counties, five each in Volusia and Polk, and one each in Osceola,
Lake and Seminole.
In Orange, the victims were men ages 21, 40, 65, 70 and 83 and a woman age 61. In Brevard, they were men ages 59, 95 and 97 and women ages 79, 93 and 96. In Polk, they were men ages 71 and 76 and women ages 63, 83 and 92.
In Volusia, it was women ages 47, 60 and 87 and men ages 78 and 86. In Lake, it was a man, 71 and in Seminole, a 74-year-old man.
One death of a 92-year-old woman was taken off Osceola County’s roster, but two more were added: a man, 83, and woman, 84, for a net increase of one.
Polk County, due to nursing-home outbreaks, has the most coronavirus fatalities in Central Florida with 127, followed by 69 in Orange, 67 in Volusia, 31 in Osceola, 26 each in Lake and Brevard, 21 in Seminole, and 18 in Sumter.
South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for about 43% of cases with 99,719 total. That includes 3,733 new cases reported Thursday among Miami-Dade (55,961), Broward (25,102), and Palm Beach (18,656) counties.
South Florida’s reported deaths on Thursday rose by 41 for a total of 2,097, about 52% of the state’s total.
Statewide, the latest positivity rate made available by the Florida Department of Health, for Wednesday, was over 18%.
To date, 17,167 people have been hospitalized, Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard shows, 409 more than a day earlier — a record jump for one 24-hour period and the first time over 400 hospitalizations have been recorded in one day.
Over 2.3 million people have been tested in Florida, with 37,247 more tests — about 8,600 less than the July daily average — reported Thursday compared with the previous day.
Over 1.3 million tests have been given since May 31.
The virus has infected over 12 million people and has killed over 550,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. In the U.S., over 3 million people have been infected and over 132,000 killed.
— Tiffini Theisen